Egypt’s Zahi Hawass follows up his lecture in London with his thoughts on why now is the time for many of his countries artefacts to return home from foreign museums.

From:
Asharq Alawsat

Time for the Antiquities to Return Home
17/12/2009
By Zahi Hawass

I recently travelled to London to give a lecture at the British Museum on my archaeological discoveries, and to host a book-signing event for my book ‘A Secret Voyage’ that has finally been published in English. This book deals with the experiences of my career [as an archaeologist] from my view on the beauty of the Pharaonic civilization, to [discussing] the Pharaonic view on love, religion, daily life, and festivals, and also includes stories about my latest discoveries in the Valley of the Kings.

This visit came a long time after my last visit to the British capital, and I told journalists and reporters from various media organizations that I had come to London to demand the return of the Rosetta Stone that is housed by the British Museum. The Rosetta Stone was part of an agreement concluded by the French with the British following the Battle of the Nile [also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay]. The French fleet was defeated in this battle, forcing it to leave Egypt, which then fell under British influence.
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The British Museum may want to hang onto the Rosetta Stone, but many people feel that now is the time to return it to Egypt.

From:
The Independent

Letters: The Rosetta Stone
It’s time to gracefully relinquish the Rosetta Stone
Saturday, 12 December 2009

The Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles are priceless, culturally significant antiquities brought to Britain under arrangements that were perfectly legal at the time, and so Egypt and Greece have no claim that could succeed in any court (The Big Question, 9 December).

In the past, that has been considered sufficient justification by the British Museum for it to reject any requests for their return. When you add the facts that Egyptian museums have been less secure, and that had the marbles remained in position on the Parthenon they would have decomposed in the atmospheric pollution so as no longer to be recognisable, then most rational people would have supported that position.
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More coverage of the return by the Louvre of Egyptian artefacts.

From:
Press TV

Louvre returns Egypt’s ancient artworks
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:34:26 GMT

The Louvre Museum has returned Egypt’s ancient wall paintings after the country severed ties with the French art hub in October.

Egypt retrieved the fragments after President Hosni Mubarak checked one of them during a visit with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, Artdaily reported.
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Following the earlier decision by the Louvre to return various fresco fragments, the actual return of these objects has now taken place.

From:
Agence France Presse

France returns stolen Louvre relics to Egypt
(AFP) – 22 hours ago

PARIS — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy handed his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak a stolen ancient relic on Monday, ending a row between France and Egypt over artefacts taken from a Luxor tomb.

“Thank you very much,” Mubarak said as Sarkozy presented the painted wall fragment to him, following a formal lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.
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If the British Museum did relinquish ownership of the Rosetta Stone, some parties claim that there are still reasons why it would not necessarily return to Egypt as other countries also potentially have claims of ownership on the artefact.

From:
The Times Blogs

December 11, 2009
Should the Rosetta Stone go back….where?

What is the best selling post-card in the British Museum?

The last time I inquired — admittedly more than a decade ago, but was told that it was the permanent “number one” — it was a rather dreary image of the Rosetta Stone. That outsold its major rivals by several thousand. If you are interested, the main post-card rivals were: various views of the Museum itself, the (also Egyptian) bronze “Gayer Egypt Anderson” cat (displayed on the card plus or minus a real live tabby cat) and an original drawing of Beatrix Potter’s Flopsy Bunnies.
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Following recent requests, the British Museum predictably has come up with a long list of reasons why they believe the Rosetta Stone is better of in their institution than it would be in Egypt. With each new raft of reasons though it begins to look more & more as though they are grabbing at straws, desperately trying to preserve the status quo whilst ignoring the fact that the world has changed significantly in the last two hundred years since many of their artefacts were acquired.

From:
Daily Telegraph

The Rosetta Stone can be shared where it is
Despite Egypt’s overtures, the British Museum is the artefact’s natural home, suggests Roy Clare.
Published: 6:24AM GMT 10 Dec 2009

It’s a staple question at dinner parties or job interviews: if your house or office was burning down, what’s the one thing you would save? For the staff of the British Museum, the question might seem almost impossible to answer, given the wonderful riches contained in its collection. Yet if you pressed them, they would probably have to admit that the answer would be simple: the Rosetta Stone.

Discovered in Egypt by the French during Napoleon’s expedition, and acquired by the British as part of a peace settlement, the Rosetta Stone is a priceless and extraordinary item. The three languages displayed on it, translations of the same text, enabled us to make the first interpretations of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is no surprise, then, that each year, millions of visitors to London seek out this exceptional artefact (and the thousands of others) in the galleries that present the world’s cultures in the British Museum.
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Zahi Hawass’s comments about the Rosetta Stone have provoked a lot of discussion in the UK – but as yet, no signs of any actual progress towards resolving the issue.

From:
The Independent

The Big Question: What is the Rosetta Stone, and should Britain return it to Egypt?
By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Why are we asking this now?

Dr Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the high priest of all matters archaeological in the Land of the Pharaohs, arrived in London yesterday to further his demand for the return of the Rosetta Stone from the display rooms of the British Museum, where it has been on show since 1802. Dr Hawass has embarked on an international campaign to secure the return of a host of renowned artefacts which he claims were plundered by colonial oppressors and assorted brigands from Egypt’s ancient tombs and palaces before ending up in some of the world’s most famous museums.
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German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt discovered the Nefertiti bust in 1912. The bust was taken from Egypt to Germany, but wheter or not this removal had official permission is something that is disputed by the Egyptian authorities.

From:
Modern Ghana

Egypt pushes for return of antiquities to origin countries
By Kwame Opoku, Dr.
Feature Article

JASON KOUTSOUKIS HERALD CORRESPONDENT
December 7, 2009
CAIRO: Egypt will host an international conference next March for countries seeking the return of ancient indigenous treasures being kept in foreign museums.

The secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said the conference would be a world first.
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The British Museum act prevents the institution from de-accessioning artefacts from its collection – but a suggested loan of the Rosetta Stone (which it is also suggested does not even need to be long term) could lead to a possible solution to the problem. Or not, as the case may be.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 21:31 GMT, Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Rosetta Stone row ‘would be solved by loan to Egypt’

Egypt’s head of antiquities will drop a demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the British Museum agrees to loan it out, he says.

The Stone – a basalt slab dating back to 196BC which was key to the modern deciphering of hieroglyphics – has been at the museum since 1802.
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Egypt is carrying on building pressure on Germany to try & secure the return of the Nefertiti Bust.

From:
Bikya Masr

Egypt, Germany to duke it out over Nefertiti bust
Joseph Mayton
6 December 2009 in Culture, Egypt, Egyptology, Europe, News

CAIRO: It has become the neverending story of Egypt’s Zahi Hawass to get Germany to return the famous Nefertiti bust. He has made threat upon threat against Berlin, demanding they give back what is rightfully Egypt’s. The threats have been met with laughter and skirting. Germany has no intention of returning their prized possession, taken from Egypt’s sands in the early part of last century.

Either way the diplomacy falls, the two sides will hold talks this month in order to see what will be done about the statue. Hawass believes the 3,400-year-old treasure was illegally taken from Egypt and should be returned.
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Egypt has made repeated requests in the past for the return of the Rosetta Stone. Most of these requests have been made to the press or at conferences – which rightly or wrongly are not counted as official requests. It now looks as though Egypt is planning on making a formal request for the return of the Rosetta Stone – Although I am uncertain that this will meet with a more positive response than previous informal requests did.

From:
The Times

December 6, 2009
Egypt to demand the Rosetta Stone from British Museum
Cristina Ruiz

EGYPT is preparing to make a formal request for the return of the Rosetta Stone, the ancient artefact that helped to unlock the secrets of the pharaohs, from the British Museum.

Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he is preparing to “fight” for the restitution of the stone which has been on display in the museum in London since 1802.
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Zahi Hawass is going to have a meeting twith the director of Berlin’s Neues Museum to discuss the future of the Nefertiti Bust. Whilst no wanting to pre-empt whatever is going to be discussed, it seems to me to be a positive step, in that any meeting is better then the requests being completely ignored with no opportunity for further discussion.

From:
Reuters

Egypt to hold talks over Nefertiti bust
Thu Dec 3, 2009 6:19am GMT
By Marwa Awad

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Reuters Life!) – Egypt, in a diplomatic tug-of-war with Germany over the bust of Queen Nefertiti, will hold talks this month to try to recover the 3,400-year-old pharaonic treasure Egypt says was smuggled out of the country.

Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told Reuters he will meet the director of the Egyptian Papyrus Collection at Berlin’s Neues Museum, where the bust is on display, on December 20 to resolve the row over Nefertiti, the mother-in-law of boy king Tutankhamun.
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